BAXTER BUILDING

Landing on the platform just outside the sliding door, Iron Man opened his face plate and stepped inside the lab.

"I hope I'm not too late."

"Not at all!" Reed Richards greeted him. Inside, Dr. Connors was sitting at a table nursing a coffee. Cyclops, Beast and Professor Xavier were examining the various devices in the lab, and Kitty sat with Susan Richards having their own conversation over tea. Reed Richards came forward, literally stretching his arm to greet Tony.

"It's great to have you here Mr. Stark! It's been a while."

The armor opened, and Tony casually stepped out of the suit, dressed in comfortable clothes.

"When was the last time I was here? Was it when Doom tried to use the Chrysler Building to broadcast mind-control waves?"

"I think so yeah." Reed gestured an arm towards the other guests. "Tony meet Dr. Curt Connors."

Connors rose from his seat, shaking hands with Stark. "An honor to meet you Mr. Stark, er, please excuse my composure, the flight here was a little nerve-wracking."

"He made you ride in the flying bumper-car huh?" Stark guessed.

Reed was dismayed by the nickname. "Why does everyone call it that?"

"Don't worry doc." Stark put a hand on Connors' shoulder. "It wears off. I followed your thesis on modeling a primitive A.I. on the reptilian brain, impressive stuff."

Connors was genuinely taken aback. "Well thank you."

"Good to see you again Tony." Professor Xavier said as he and Beast approached.

Tony greeted them both. "letting the students run the school today?"

"No." Xavier chuckled. "Jean is in charge today, between her and Logan the students aren't liable to burn the place down."

No one else could see Cyclops wince behind his visor, the thought of Jean and Wolverine left to mind the house together left him with a primal jealousy. He trusted her, but Logan wasn't known for his self-restraint.

Stark put his hands on his hips. "It must be hard for him with so many of the kids being taller. McCoy!"

"Hello Tony." Beast returned as they shook hands.

Looking around, Tony examined the other guests. "This is a nice little club we got going here huh? And don't worry I still haven't told anyone about the time you let me pet you."

Beast recoiled slightly, his eyes darting back and forth. "I appreciate the discretion."

Kitty now joined the circle, putting on her best face.

"And is this the young Shadowcat I've been hearing about?". Stark asked.

"Yes Mr. Stark, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Kitty reached to greet him, but her hand phased right through his. She smiled and offered a weak chuckle.

"Sorry, that happens sometimes when I'm nervous."

"That's okay. it happens to everyone on their first time."

"Hello Tony." Susan Richards stood apart from the group, her arms folded.

Tony joined his hands behind his back and refused to meet her gaze.

"Hello Susan. You're looking well."

"Mmm-hmm." was all she spared him.

Turning back to the party's host, Stark just wanted to get things going. "So Reed, are we ready to start the super-secret meeting yet?"

"We're waiting on one more party to begin." Reed said with a raised finger.

From the side of the room, Thing and Johnny Storm entered, already engaged in a conversation.

"I keep telling' ya Ben, there's all sorts of movie roles you could get."

Thing shook his head. "I don't wanna be plastered all over da place like some circus act."

Dr. Connors let his cup of coffee dangle in front of his mouth as he watched the rocky mountain of a man walk past.

"Hey stretch I hope your little science club lets out before the Knicks game."

Reed rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry Ben but this might run long."

"eh, I should probably go down to the Yancy Pub." Thing groaned. "But I just know those punks'll be waitin' to pelt me with eggs or water balloons or sumthin' "

"I'll go with you Ben, you'll make a great wing-man." Johnny Storm strutted past Thing, who shook his head and snarled his lip.

Outside, the sound of turbines could be heard lowering onto the pad atop the building.

"Ah, it sounds like our final guest has arrived." Reed announced.

I wasn't long before two SHIELD agents came down the steps and held open the door. Following them came Captain America in full uniform, the iconic shield strapped to his back.

"Hello Everyone."

Tony was the only one in the room not taken-in by the awe of his presence. Even a braggart like Johnny Storm kept quiet. With a strange mixture of reverence and curiosity, Reed approach the Avenger and shook his hand.

"Professor Richards," Cap said with a nod. "Dr. Banner was happy to come."

"I just had to know what kind of science-hijinks Mr. Fantastic and I could get up too."

All eyes turned to the lean, modestly dressed man entering the room. His brown hair somewhat messy, his glasses just a thin frame.

"Now I know what your all thinking…"

No one even took a breath.

"I thought he'd be taller." Banner braced for a response of some kind, but still the room was silent.

"Just kidding, only Xavier knows what everyone is thinking."

Kitty of all people let loose a bright laughter that seemed to deflate the tension in the room.

Banner used a finger to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I guess I should stick to smashing things huh?"

Richards waved away his concern. "Trust me, it's your brain I need today, not your brawn."

Taking Reed's hand, Bruce smiled. "Well it's good to know that regular old Bruce Banner can be of use to someone."

Curt Connors practically spat his coffee out after such a statement. With all eyes now on him, he steeled his courage enough to defend his outburst.

"Well come on, I can't be the only one in this room to be humbled by the presence of a scientific mind like Bruce Banner!"

"Well I'm humbled by your praise Dr. Connors." Bruce returned as Connors stood the shake his hand. "You're someone who's work has done so much good for humanity, unlike mine."

Susan walked through the center of the room. "Well now that we all know each other, we can begin."

Soon enough all present were assembled for Reed's presentation.

Reed stood in front of his lab, all before him the guests waited to learn why they had been summoned. "Now as most of you know, my discovery of the Negative Zone proved that separate dimensions were not only real, but travel to them was possible. So then I asked myself: "what about alternate realities?"

My idea was similar to how we scan for signals from extraterrestrials. We built an array that looks for broadcasts from outside our solar system. The device that I've built here, does something like that."

"Are you saying you've intercepted signals from a parallel universe?" Beast asked.

Reed couldn't help but smile. "That's exactly what I've done."

Most were silent, but one spoke-up.

"Cool story bro." Stark called out. "But why drag us here? You just had to tell someone?"

Reed raised his hands defensively. "Trust me, there's a reason I invited you here besides showing off."

Johnny leaned over to speak in Cyclops' ear: "I knew it."

Reed continued; "You may have noticed that I've gathered a variety of scientific minds here, let me show you why."

Reed stretched his hand over to a button panel and entered a series of commands. The monitor screen folded out from its ceiling compartment, and a video feed flickered to life. A familiar Japanese news broadcast played itself.

Banner was perplexed. "Uh, your breakthrough evidence of a parallel universe is Japanese morning news?"

Reed gazed at Bruce Banner, momentarily stuck for a response. "N- no, no! just keep watching. I've made a compilation to show you."

On the screen, the image changed to show drone footage of Godzilla fighting the maser tanks, and using his atomic breath to demolish entire buildings in a heartbeat. All were quite now as the presentation continued. A flash of static and a male British newscaster was brought up.

"… And we see here in the footage of Godzilla's attack a little over a year ago, when he laid siege on the Tokai Nuclear power plant in Japan."

The voice changed as a narrator spoke over the images of the attack. "A path of destruction all to familiar to the beleaguered nation."

Now with audio, the sound of Godzilla's roar blared from the speakers as the titan was met with a barrage of maser bolts.

"Once again, Godzilla has humbled mankind; the Drone Battle Group, devised and commanded by Major Sho Kuroki was not enough to repel the monster."

Maser tanks and DAG units were shown dashing down city streets, narrowly avoiding falling debris, and shooting their energy attacks at on off camera foe.

"Well I like their taste in cars." Stark said from the back.

"In one of his rare solo forays into a populated area, Godzilla showed an otherwise indifferent attitude to civilization."

Dr. Connors awed at the beast on the screen, clear reptilian features, but the obvious features of the dorsal plates and the tiny ears baffled him.

"Not even the pride of the JSDF, Kiryu, could stand in his way for long."

Tony Stark took a few steps forward, staring hard at the Mecha. He watched Kiryu drive his gauntlet dagger into Godzilla's shoulder, and hit him with an uppercut.

"Now that… looks like fun…"

"In the end however, Godzilla proved to be too much for the combined efforts."

Now the otherwise dark picture was pierced by the torrent of bright-bluish atomic fire, that turned the streets of the city into an inferno.

"The core of the Tokai plant was removed and drained."

Godzilla held the core in one hand, standing alone as the city burned around him.

Bruce Banner physically pushed his way forward, adjusting his glasses. "It's consuming the radiation from the core! That much leaked radiation would contaminate the area for miles!"

"Now with the district mostly repaired, the EDF reports that Kaiju attacks world-wide is at an all time low."

A shocked Beast pondered the statement aloud. "Attacks world-wide?"

Reed held up a finger, and entered a new command into the panel. On screen the images flashed by, spending only seconds on a single scene. "There are more."

Footage of Rodan flying in between skyscrapers, façades being ripped out in the wake of the sonic stream and raining down tons of debris

"I know that street." Cap chimed. "That's only six blocks from here!"

Now glitchy home video footage showed Baragon trudging down the Ganges River while people screamed and fled for their lives.

Kitty Pryde covered her mouth, her eyes quivering at the sight of the terror.

Gaira, a hulking, hideous green monstrosity rampaged across an airport tarmac. It plunged an arm into the control tower, and extracting a number of small objects, shoved them into its misshapen jaws. Even Professor Xavier was visibly disturbed, his typically calm veneer replaced by tight lips and a concentrated focus.

Johnny Storm now stepped forward, recognizing the cityscape of Los Angeles. Cell phone footage of Hedorah captured the vile beast shambling through an intersection. The could of smog which L.A. was known for now fed the horror. The last shot of it was a vertical, pulsating red eye catching the crowd of humans scrambling away, and a gust of black wind sweeping over them.

Cap somberly voiced the question they were all thinking. "Mr. Richards, why did you bring us here? Why show us these things?"

The screen went blank, the presentation over.

"Because I need your help. They…" Reed pointed to the screen "They need our help."

LATER

After a break, the assembled heroes now confronted Mr. Fantastic's offer.

Cyclops reclined on the couch. "I don't know. We have enough problems dealing with our own enemies, how can we help these people fight giant monsters?"

"How exactly." Banner echoed. "Even if we had solutions for them, it's not like we can just walk through the back of the wardrobe."

Banner was met with a few confused stares.

"I got the reference, Bruce." Xavier told him.

Banner thanked him.

Dr. Connors sat apart from the rest, staring at the device that stretched from floor to ceiling. Kitty sat down on the couch next to him, startling him out of his stupor.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Connors was still overwhelmed. "I am, it's just… a lot to take in."

"I know, all those terrible monsters, the constant war those people must go through to keep themselves alive."

"And just what does Richards think I can do?" Connors put his hand to his chest for emphasis. "I don't have any super-powers, no flying suits of armor, hell, I'm missing half an arm!"

Kitty looked him in the eyes, "I'm sure that Richards thinks you have a lot to offer, why else would he invite you?"

Reed was making some adjustments to his device and gave Beast a quick glance as he approached.

"So do you think I'm as crazy as the others?"

"Not sure Reed." Beast patted the side of the machine. "Travel to an alternate reality, save their humanity from a plague of behemoths. I'm sure they'd love the help, but is this something we really want to take on?"

Reed gestured from left to right across the span of the room. "Look around this room Henry, we've got Avengers, X-Men, the Fantastic Four, how many world-ending threats have we faced? How many super-villains have we stopped? Why do we do all this if not to make the world a better place?"

"Our world, yes." The X-Man pointed out.

Tony Stark nursed a can of soda, following the line of thoughts going through his head. "A giant dragon machine that fights real monsters… How do I not take the leap?"

Johnny Storm, his sister Sue, Ben 'Thing' Grimm, and Steve Rogers all sat together, each anxious to know what course of action would be decided.

Cap put down a glass of fruit juice. "I know you guys go on adventures like this all the time, but do you ever stop to think if you're doing more harm than good? Meddling in different dimensions?"

"We don't know if the things we do here will work out for good or ill." Sue admitted. "But that doesn't stop us from trying."

"Sometimes you gotta take a leap, and see where it takes ya." Thing explained.

Johnny, leaning his cheek on his hand, nodded in agreement. "Oh that's deep Ben, real deep."

Stepping into the center of the room, Reed spoke to them all. "Everyone… I know I'm asking a lot of you. But I wouldn't have asked you here if I didn't think you had the skills and the courage to be a part of this.

'Godzilla' seems to be the most dangerous of the lot, and for that reason especially, I ask Dr. Banner and Dr. Connors to devise theories on how to defeat him. Henry, Mr. Stark, if we put our minds together I think we can figure out a way to breach the wall between our worlds. Once there, we can help the native forces to improve their defensive measures.

That's my general outline for now. Are there any questions?"

Slowly, Kitty raised her hand. "Do we all get to go?"

"Absolutely not." Cyclops denied instantly.

"Aww…" She complained.

Reed smiled a weak smile; "Sorry Kitty, but not all of us here will be needed to take the trip. To that end I'm drawing the line in the sand. Whoever wants to leave now, go home, you are welcome to do so. I will not think any less of you, and I don't think anyone else here would either. But if you choose to stay, and be a part of this, then plan for a long night because we have a lot of work to do. So if you wanna leave, now's your chance."

No one moved, no one spoke, they just glanced among each other to see who would take the easy way out. After almost a minute had passed, Reed nodded his head. "It seems we are agreed then."

Over the course of the next week, the team prepared themselves to become monster slayers. Xavier and Cyclops stayed the first night, but left the next morning. Xavier having a few ideas of his own on how to confront such creatures. Cyclops just wanted to make sure Wolverine was keeping his claws to himself. They decided to leave Kitty behind after much pleading and begging on her part.

Which was all for the better as far as Johnny was concerned. Not a day passed where he wasn't trying to get her interested in him. But despite his best, most practiced efforts she remained more interested in finding ways to learn from the scientists and help them with their projects.

One day he found himself hunched over a tabletop, watching as she phased herself through a wall, handing one end of a cable from Beast to Stark. His sister came-up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What's a matter Johnny? Can't get her to admire your abs like your last girlfriend?"

"Ha-ha Sue." He mocked.

Sue put her chin in her hand. "Besides, isn't she a little young for you?"

"What?" Johnny objected. "She's only like two years younger than me!"

"She's still in high school Johnny. I know she's cute, but give it a rest." She said before walking away.

Johnny grimaced, but then his expression popped into one of mischievous excitement.

"You're right. I'll go see what Ben's up to."

Elsewhere, Banner and Connors were examining radiological and evolutionary graphs.

"I can't pinpoint what class he belongs to." Connors said, tapping his finger on a picture of Godzilla. "Some of his facial features lead me to think he's some kind of Therapsid. I mean, the evolutionary distance would explain some of the unusual features, but, what are the dorsal plates for? And how is his body not falling apart at his mammoth size?"

Banner held in front of him a pair of radiological charts. "Radiation seems to be a direct source of energy for it. With the ability to consume power like that, the mutations in its evolution would be able to accumulate much faster than normal. If that even is a feature of mutation."

"And the breath could be the product of successive generations using the excess heat as a weapon." Curt theorized. "Not unlike a horned lizard shooting jets of blood at a predator, earlier version of his breath might have been a super-heated vapor."

Holding the diagrams together, Banner gazed to the ceiling as he thought. "So then the key to defeating him is to go after his body's reserve of radiation."

Connors strode back and forth. "If we do that, he might be rendered inert, like a reptile in cold temperatures, perhaps even enter a hibernation of some kind."

"So how do we neutralize his power?"

Dr. Connors turned away, seeming to remember something. "There was something we experimented with when I studied the effects of nuclear waste on local reptile populations. Have you ever heard of Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria?"

Banner gave way to a knowing smile. "Why yes, yes I have."

Reed entered the lab carrying a transparent tablet, on which he manipulated an array of controls. Phasing through a wall, Kitty approached him carrying a small box with several wires sticking out.

"Is this the part you were looking for Mr. Richards?"

Somewhat surprised Reed reached into the box and retrieved a rectangular box with a yellow and red wire coiled around it. "It is Kitty! Where did you find it?"

Kitty stuck out her thumb behind her. "It was stuck behind the super-cooling unit."

"Huh, how'd it get there?" he wondered to himself.

"So how's the portal coming?" She asked, hopping up to sit on a work table.

"Excellent so far." Reed stretched his hand over to where Beast and Stark were working on a spherical device. Without looking, Beast held up his hand and received the small gadget over his shoulder.

"The device we're working on will scan its target, then create a portal large enough to allow it through."

"Looks like a soccer ball."

"It does a little bit…" Reed thought. "We designed it so that we'd be able to take it with us."

"So, the ball design was an idea I had a few years ago." Stark said as they worked.

"You don't say." An uninterested Beast mumbled.

"I was designing a device to send 3-D renderings from one spot to another. I figure archeologists, doctors, engineers would love it."

"So why didn't you finish it?"

Tony paused to think. "I think I lost it when Mandarin blew-up my lab."

3 DAYS LATER

"Well, I hope this doesn't end with me being stepped on!"

Tony raised his glass of champagne to the group; his relief at reaching the end of this phase apparent to all by the long, deep drink he took that drained the cup.

Around him, returning his toast were those who had stayed on during the past week, a group that now included Cyclops, Jean Grey and Martha Connors.

Reed raised his glass in turn. "I just hope to do the best we can."

Several more smiled, Kitty, holding her glass of champagne looked to Jean questioningly. After a smirk and a nod from her mentor, Kitty happily took a sip from her glass.

One face however, was not filled with excitement. Martha Connors looked down to her glass, seeing herself frown in the reflection. She hugged her husband's arm a little closer as she gathered the nerve to speak.

"I had a few questions about your gambit, Mr. Richards."

"Yes?"

"What if their governments don't want your help? What if they don't trust you? I mean I'm sure you all had your own experiences of having to deal with public perception and the lawful consequences of your actions."

The questions struck the X-Men particularly deep, their sad history of persecution and demonization, stemmed only by their tireless public efforts to combat dangerous mutants, and the intervention of the Avengers. For a moment, Cyclops remembered the moment when Captain America himself used his shield to protect Jean from the hail of garbage being thrown at her.

Pursing his lips and measuring his thoughts, Reed answered her the best he could. "Well I'd expect them to be cautious of us at first; I have no reason to think they'll draw weapons on us."

Stark raised his hand to interject. "If they don't want our help then we'll respect their wishes, but we'll offer some consultation nonetheless."

Still worried, Martha faced the rest of them. "I know Curt isn't going, but what about the dangers the rest of you'll be facing? From what Curt told me these monsters can wipe out whole cities in a day."

Susan stepped forward, trying to reassure the fretful wife. "Listen, Martha, we've faced dangerous odds before, all of us. We'll be alright."

"They're the professional heroes hun." Curt said, rubbing her back for comfort. "They know what they're doing."

NEXT MORNING

BAXTER BUILDING

SHOWTIME

Despite the pleasant weather the team enjoyed over the last week, this day was overcast and rained furiously. To some it would have been an omen, but to Tony Stark it was merely annoying.

"Of all the days we spent cooped-up in the lab, it had to rain today."

Tony stared out over the city as a flash of lightning streaked across the sky. The thunder unusually loud Tony thought.

"Hey, you think Thor's in town?"

Tony turned; behind him Captain America was helping Banner gather his research material.

"I don't think so; he usually stops by whenever he's on Earth."

"It's been a while since we saw him right?" Banner asked.

Stark turned back to the window, a hundred different plans going through his head. "Yeah… the life of an Asgardian prince must be a busy one. Too busy to break-up a little storm for his buddies apparently."

Banner and Cap exchanged a set of rolled eyes. Bruce closed the lid on one of his suitcases.

"Well Tony, I hope the ANEB that me and Connors developed will be enough."

"Don't worry, my D-3's will do the job. I'm actually a little disappointed we can't turn you lose on some of those titans."

The atmosphere in the room became as grim as the outside.

"Tony I think we all know why Bruce isn't going." Cap reminded him.

Stark seemed to let the issue go, begrudgingly, and walked away. "Alright fellas, it's time for me to suit-up."

"It's too bad Dr. Connors and his wife left last night." Banner said as he slipped on a raincoat. "I would have invited them to the mansion for dinner."

Rogers handed him the handle of a second case. "Reed did kinda hijack him. Plus he needed to get back to his day job eventually."

"I know. Say, you're in the information loop; can you tell me if Fury knows about what we did here?"

"I'd bet on it." Cap remarked. "And I'm sure he's watching like a hawk through one means or another."

"Well, let's hope he's watching with his good eye."

Cap gave Banner a deadpan look before grabbing the heavier of the bags. They both began to leave when a recurring question came back to Bruce.

"You know, I am wondering what Thor is up to."